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Topic: My Camembert attempt # xyz (Read 1361 times)

Hi there, i haven't posted here for a while because i was having a pause on cheesemaking...anyways i recently started it again and here was my start-up cheese a camembert ...please note the below postings are a flashback .... i will post all these "Flashback" to current day so you can read about me making it in Thailand ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Having tried a few times to make Camembert with OK outcome but I think it could have been better too….so I got a good Milk Supply from a local Farming School and made a new attempt with 8 ltr of Milk which supposed to give 4 x 10cm Camembert with about 250gr each .

I still had the appropriate cultures kept in the freezer which I bought abroad ( http://www.cheesemaking.com) I have ordered from them for years and it was always a pleasant experience ( not affiliated with this company) also the shipping charges have always been normal and not extra high for more profits.

So this was 2 days ago I started about noon and got my things out and my 2 cheese books as well I often like to compare the described and do that which makes most sense to me. The Camembert Recipe which I pretty much followed is here: http://www.cheesemaking.com/Camembert.html ( you have to scroll down to the section with the blue background)

This recipe is pretty detailed written and in my case I used Flora Danica, both Penicilum Candidum and Geotrichum Candidum ( I believe it could be done with penicilum candidum alone too ) . I also added Calcium Chloride and the Rennet I used was Liquid Animal Rennet ( I tried with vegetarian Rennet Tablets but I find he forming of the curds better with liquid animal rennet )

As I was not planning to really report on it I added the starter and cultures as per recipe description but not taking any pics also added the rennet.

The first picture shows the coagulation with rennet period and the thermometer to ensure the correct temperature ( the pot used is aluminum , it is not the ideal thing to use …maybe sometime later I will invest in a larger stainless steel pot ) This are the Sanitized & prepared cheese molds and cheese-mats:

The Curds where firm enough so they were cut into dices and kept them rest further as they will release whey:A gentle stir to prevent them from clotting :

The Tools I used to remove some whey:

Filling the Curds into the Cheese molds:

The cheese molds appear full so needed to wait up a bit until it had set to fill the rest of curds:

Finally, all Curds are in ! :

2 hours later it was time to turn them and see how much smaller they are now…

Lost about 30% of its volume already:

The curds where left at room temperature overnight and they were turned over every couple of hours….this the Day 1 of making my Camembert

It was sprinkled and rubbed with Sea-salt :I placed the cheese on a new set of Cheesemat :

And moved it into the ripening box….the ripening Box = a de-tuned fridge ( should have 10-15 degree celsius and some high humidity over 90%) the plastic container with sponge inside is meant to increase humidity

After a few hours I checked and found the environment a bit dry so my final ripenin box looked like this and is stored inside the de-tuned fridge :And a look inside :In the next 7-10 days I shall see some white fine fuzzy mold on the cheese …..and I will flip it over daily and making sure temperature and humidity are in order…so I will report back once this is reached …here the most recent picture done yesterday.

I was greeted with the first bit of white mold ( 5th day) , if I read correctly this is the first stage of mold growths , coming from the geotrichum candidum which still should see a second stage later( the penicilum candidum will do its work a bit later ) here some pics…not sure if you can see the spots of white mold , not easy to make photo of something white with a near white background

It was time to check the progress of the Camembert by cutting one up. It is Day 21

It had a very developed scent already and it became softer too ...but as i can see now it can still mature another 10 days i think.....and the taste ?

I was kinda shocked how great it turned out i took 2 of these chunks (on pics below) and it went down beautifully - Yum

It also made me wonder what do so many Camembert manufacturers wrong( yeah i mean predominately those ones outside of France) ... i used no special alpine milk and just matured it the regular way ( or as good as i could imitate the ideal conditions) . Anyways extremely happy with this outcome :-) here some pics

The above picture is from today .... i wanted to ask if these tiny holes inside the camemberts firmer part are something unusual , or to worry about ? As for taste and smell it is great , just wanted to make sure if things are going the right direction.

Your camembert looks really good!!! since your location is in Thailand, do you have any problem with the temperature when leaving it to drain overnight? I assumed the temperature and humidity in Thailand and Indonesia are quite similar.

Your camembert looks really good!!! since your location is in Thailand, do you have any problem with the temperature when leaving it to drain overnight? I assumed the temperature and humidity in Thailand and Indonesia are quite similar.

you are right the temperatures we face are quite similar...i have a few fridges and for instance my barfridge i am able to turn it so warm so i can use it for the "warm cave" ( neessary for when the emmenthal forms the holes) ...this would be already too warm for regular maturing but right temperature for draining the camemberts. . But what i do i have the camembert draining in an area which is cooled by aircon (living room, office whatever rom you cool - if you don't cool use a fridge set to warmest possible) ...so the temperature is appr. there...actually i made camembert last night and it is draining now ...